


Adaptable and Other Words That Describe Donald Duck

by SundayZenith



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Gen, non linear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 06:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17523776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SundayZenith/pseuds/SundayZenith
Summary: 25 short drabbles about Donald Duck.





	Adaptable and Other Words That Describe Donald Duck

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to do one of those Write A Dozen Or So Drabbles Based On These Very Specific Words things, but I had, and still have, no idea how they work. So I just randomly generated a bunch of words and went from there.

 

**Tree**

Estranging yourself from your family is a lot more complicated than it seems- or at least it is if you’re Donald Duck.

 

He cuts the McDuck side of the family off easily enough- it helps that most of them live in a different country and/or are cursed to be bound to one location forever. The boy’s will likely never know about their Scottish ancestry, but it's better than them getting caught in Scrooge’s web.

 

It’s his father’s side that makes things harder. Despite not actually being related to Scrooge by blood, many of them have grown close to him. The first thing most of them do when Donald calls them is ask about Scrooge.

 

His cousins, Gladstone and Fethry, grew up thinking of Scrooge as their uncle. He’s able to convince those two to never speak of Scrooge to the triplets, though he doubts he’ll ever leave the triplets alone in the same room as them- Gladstone’s supernatural good luck always seems to make his luck worse, and Fethry’s idea of a good time is disappearing for months at a time before showing up at your door with a radioactive killer starfish as a pet. They, at least, are willing to never speak to the triplets about Scrooge.

 

The fact that Scrooge seems determined not to talk to anyone helps.

 

**Direction**

Donald stays in Duckburg, converting the old boat Scrooge used to have him pilot into a houseboat. He stays, though not because he can’t bring himself to leave the only home he’s ever really known-  _ she’s  _ ever really known.

 

He stays because he doesn’t know what else to do, and with the triplets hatching, barely days after the Spear of Selene incident, he wouldn’t even have time to do it.

 

**Quicksand**

Actual quicksand is nothing like cartoons- it would take hours to actually sink, and as long as you keeps moving quick enough over it, your feet won’t even get that dirty. Of course, Donald being  _ Donald _ , has manages to trip and nearly drown in quicksand a few times.

 

That sudden panic, the feeling of drowning in dirt, the humiliation and indignity of having to crawl yourself out, or have someone else who finds your trouble hilarious or, worse, irritating- none of it comes close to explaining how he felt when he first heard Dewey shout “I wish I was an only child!” but it's the closest thing he can think of.

 

**Comparison**

When the bottom of Donald’s favorite toy boat cracked, Scrooge spent an entire afternoon showing him various plasters and glues, many of which either weighed it down or dissolved in water. Finally, Scrooge uttered the closest thing to an “I give up” for him: “I’ll jus’ buy ye a new one!”

 

When the wing of Della’s first model plane popped off, she carefully glued it back on. When it popped off again, Scrooge spent an entire week helping her dismantle it and put it back together with tiny screws. He knew how much it meant to her.

 

**Google**

Donald spends an entire week debating whether he should search for and block any and every term, name, and word the might connect him to Scrooge when the boys became old enough to start using the computer. 

 

He doesn’t block anything, in the end. Knowing the boys, they would find out somehow and would simply take it as a challenge.

 

**Ignorant**

There’s ten dollars missing from his wallet with five quarters in its place, a new, low quality stuffed animal hidden under a pile of laundry, and three small faces trying very hard not to look guilty.

 

He doesn’t ask.

 

**Win**

“Della,” Donald asks, slowly. His face is already red. He holds up a crumbled poster he found hanging in the market window advertising “Match for Matrimony: Storkules vs Daisy! Be There To See History Happen!” At the bottom, it said José and Panchito would be providing live music. “What’s the big idea?”

 

“I’m not always gonna be there to look after you, baby bro. Somebody’s gotta take care of you when I’m gone.”

 

“I am going to kill you.”

 

“Wait till after I figure out how to fly Storkules in for the match. I like Daisy, but you deserve more than just a default winner. Also this was like thirty-eight percent your friends’ idea.”

 

“I’m going to kill them later.”

 

**Talented**

Donald plucked the strings of the guitar from memory. Huey listens, then copies on his cello.

 

**Volleyball**

Scrooge locks his fingers together and Donald jumps on them. Together, they propel him over the fence.

 

**Sip**

Scrooge is excitedly looking around the table, having just laid a map on it. His finger japs at a point not far from the marina and trails slowly to the other side. He says something about them not needing the submarine for this.

 

Huey grabs Donald’s arm.“Uncle Donald, you have to come! You can help Launchpad navigate the ship and you can say hi to cousin Fethry on the way.”

 

Donald takes a long, scalding swig of coffee to avoid answering.

 

**Adaptable**

Donald prints out a new resume at the library every month, because every month his list of skills and previous job experience keeps expanding. He usually only spends an hour or so at a time there, while the boys hopefully don’t set any of the books on fire.

 

Today, however, he’s spent over three hours on the library computer, wrestling his way through an application for an online college.

 

**Slip**

“Stay away from my  _ kids _ !”

 

It wasn’t until later that Donald realized what he said. Somewhere between kidnappings and half-supervising sleepovers, he started thinking of Mrs. B’s granddaughter as one of his own.

 

**Add**

“So…,” Della says. They are laying side by side in the tent, having missed Santa Claus this year, but not wanting to go inside the manor yet. “Who do’ya think that kid from last year was? Grandkid or great-grandkid?”

 

“Grandkid, probably” Donald responds. “He totally knew his way around the place.”

 

“Bet I die tragically,” Della laughs. “Do you think they even _ have  _ movies in the future?”

 

**Nauseating**

Donald and the boys moved around quite a bit, from apartments to trailers to couches to bungalows to hotel rooms, but somehow they always end up back in the marina.

 

Thankfully, none of the boys get seasick.

 

**Crown**

Even if his presents exploded.

Even if the cake tried to kill him.

Even if his uncle couldn’t be bothered to buy a new candle.

Even if it’s another reminder that  _ she _ isn’t there anything.

 

Seeing all his boys and Mrs. B’s granddaughter did for him is enough to make this the best birthday he’s had in a while.

 

**Powder**

If you look up the words “Durable,” “Unbreakable,” or “Hard-headed” in the dictionary, you’ll find a copy of the Duck family tree, and if you look for the Duckiest Duck, you’ll be pointed to Donald and Della.

 

Turns out, Ducks aren’t as unbreakable as they seem. Uncle Scrooge orders him not to look at his arm.

 

**Vacation**

Huey’s usually the most mature and understanding one, and Donald knows he leans on his oldest nephew quite a bit.

 

He’s still a kid, though, and like any kid, he’s more than a little disappointed to hear that Donald can’t afford to send him to the grand canyon with the rest of his Junior Woodchuck Troop.

 

“There are scholarships I could apply to- or- or I could fundraise the money- Dewey and Louie can totally come, too, if they help! Come on, Uncle Donald, don’t you want a vacation from us?”

 

He doesn’t. 

 

Huey doesn’t speak to him for the rest of the night.

 

**Old**

The first time Donald steps into his childhood bedroom, he’s surprised to see the marks on the wall, measuring his and her height over the years, are still there.

 

**Flawless**

Donald sands down any paint bumps, triple checks the plumbing and the generator, and even plants a flower to put by the window. He can’t wait for the boys to come back to see the newly rebuilt houseboat.

 

**Accidental**

Donald catches Zeus's eye long enough to realize what he’s about to do, and has enough time left over to mutter, “oh no.”

 

It’s not the first time he’s been shocked, but it is the longest.

 

“Opps,” is all Zeus has to say. His uncle looks ready to kill.

 

**Volcano**

“Careful with that one, now,” his Uncle Scrooge says. His captures exchange a confused glance at his cheerful tone. “He’s got a wee bit of a temper on him.”

 

It doesn’t take them long to understand what he meant.

 

**Argument**

Donald opens the door, fulling intending to, as calmly and rationally as possible, give Della a piece of his mind. She doesn’t give his a chance, already talking as he opens the door.

 

“-Just need you to play  _ Fun Uncle _ for a few hours, there’s something I need to do.”

 

“I-what?”

 

She pushes the baby basket of eggs past him. “There’s something I really need to do,” she repeated, “so my kids are going to spend a few hours with their _ favorite  _ uncle.”

 

“Della, wait-”

 

“I’ll be back,” she said over him, adjusting the blanket around the eggs. She was already turning away.

 

“Della-”

 

“We’ll talk later, Donald. I promise. There’s just something I _ need _ to do.”

 

Donald mentally wages a war with himself before saying, “Fine. I’ll watch them until you get back.”

 

She doesn’t come back.

 

**Modify**

Donald tries to look through the gold as discreetly as he can. Maybe he can ask Gyro about building another Barksian Translator.

 

“Maybe,”  _ she  _ used to say, “The world is the thing that should adjust itself for you.”

 

**Potato**

“What…” Uncle Scrooge looks both amazed and horrified. “What the blazes is it supposed to be?”

 

“A baked potato.”

 

Uncle Scrooge turns that look of horror and awe to him. “How did ye survive?”

 

**Doll**

Webby catches him looking at her old doll, stuck to the wall with an arrow.

 

“I used to dress like her,” she says, then blushes- while she had mostly gotten over her odd hero worship of him-  _ Him- _ about a week into his stay, she still seemed shy around him. “She was, you know, my best friend.”

 

She rubs her wrist, just under her friendship bracelet. “We did everything together, you know. Talked for hours, told each other jokes- dumb kid-and-doll stuff,” she waved her hand.

 

Donald took a wager. “You miss her, don’t you?”

 

Webby looked down. “She’s just a doll- and she’s right _ there _ .”

 

“Not the doll.”

 

Webby didn’t seem surprised. “Do you- do you ever-?”  _ miss  _ her _? _

 

“Yeah.” Donald impulsively reached out and ruffled her hair. He chuckled. “You don’t really get over it.”

 

She smiled back. “I figured.”

 

“But,” he says, and it’s moments like this he actually missed the Barksian Translator, “it doesn’t stay bad forever.”

 

Webby was young- younger than the boys, he remembered, even if not by much- and she looked it. But still met his eye and asked, “Promise?”

 

“Promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: Sunshine-Zenith


End file.
